Darts team's average age plummets to 61

Evergreen in every sense of the word, the ‘lads’ compete in the summer in the Waterside Charity League and the 13 teammates toe the oche in the winter, as Hythe Club A, in the Hythe & District Darts League.

Les Elvin formed the side in 1977 at the now closed Blackfield & Langley Social Club. Four members of that original team remain: Elvin, 72, Jim Worsley, 62, Dave Lamb, 68, and Ron Francis, 79.

Over the years - as their home base shifted to various Waterside pubs, and even Hythe Snooker Centre before it also shut - the team were joined by Bill Hickin, 82, Den Wheeler-Osman, 78, Tom Tarrant, 76, and Andy Flavell, 68.

While at the snooker club, a wee dram from a £140 bottle of whisky was voted the perfect way to round off an evening’s darts.

Donated by a teammate’s brother, who worked in the whisky trade, the golden nectar was kept in the club safe.

When everybody else had gone home, five team members would step up to the bar.

The club manager would line up five glasses, unlock the safe, measure out exactly one shot each and return the bottle to the safe.

Sadly, the bottle is but a distant memory.

Since then, the side have drafted in Nick Rogers, 49, Gavin Cruickshank, 46, Mick Rose, 41, Tony Scarborough, 38, and star player Wayne Cooper, 35, the baby of the team.

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